Consumers and businesses face a growing tide of malicious software that threatens the stability and performance of their computers and the security of their data. Computer programmers with malicious motivations have created and continue to create viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and other programs (collectively known as “malware”) in an attempt to compromise computer systems. Oftentimes, malware is used to gather sensitive data (e.g., passwords, personal user information, etc.) stored on computing devices.
Legitimate software programs often store sensitive data in predictable locations on computing devices, including registry and file locations. For example, a computer game may store user credentials or serial numbers in specific registry keys. Because legitimate software programs often store such sensitive data in the same or predictable locations, malware applications may be programmed to target these predictable storage locations. For example, a malware application may be programmed to scan a computer's registry for registry keys that are known to contain sensitive information, such as passwords, serial keys, personal user information, or the like.